Monday, June 15. 2009

TomTom Addresses Debt with Stock Sale

The four founders will buy shares and some others will be sold via a private placement. That should drop the company debt to €700 million. The company stock price has dropped 66% in the last 12 months, with many concerns related to the debt. With the recent announcement of a nav app for the iPhone, the stock price is up. There's been speculation Apple may invest in TomTom. Forbes' discussions with analysts and insiders suggests that's unlikely.

- Financial Times

ForexYard offers an analysis of the map acquisitions in recent years. Key quoyr regarding TomTom/Tele Atlas: "'In the future this will feature in textbooks as a perfect example of how stupid management sometimes can be,' said Corne van Zeijl from SNS Asset Management, who now owns TomTom shares but did not at the time of the acquisition."

Tele Atlas Turkey Data Doesn't Match Turkish Requirements

GPS Business News reports that Tele Atlas this week informed its customers via e-mail that authorities in Turkey have held its data of that country, as it does not meet state requirements defined by the Turkish military mapping agency. Tele Atlas uses the UN country designations, which do not match those of Turkey at this time.

While this is a complex matter, I applaud Tele Atlas for its transparency.